North  Carolina  railroad — President 
Messages  to  the  people. 


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-   MESSAGES  TO  THE  Pfi©PLM,  x 

-BT-  s^   ^s  '  i 

MA  J.  W.  A.  Stjlf  ll, 


PRESIDENT  N.  C.  R.  R.  CO 


TO  THE  PUBLIC. 


The  following  letters  were  written  in  vin- 
dication of  the  consolidation  scheme  and  of 
my  own  character  from  the  vile  slan- 
ders of  the  opponents  of  the  bill.  Read 
these  letters  carefully  and  you  will  see 
the  secret  foes  of  the  measure  unfrocked 
and  exposed.  These  worthies  pretended 
they  desired  to  be  very  careful  in  guarding 
the  interests  of  the  North  Carolina  Rail- 
road Company,  when,  in  fact,  their  amend- 
ments to  the  bill  on  its  passage  twice 
through  the  General  Assembly  were  in- 


tended to  put  it  in  a  shape  to  render  it  im- 
possible that  the  North  Carolina  Rail- 
road Company  could  accept  it.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  Democratic  party 
opposed  the  measure  in  this  covert  manner, 
falsely  stating  that  they  feared  the  State 
would  be  a  loser,  when,  in  fact,  the  State 
had  no  moneyed  interest  in  the  North  Caro- 
lina road,  as  a  decree  of  court  had  already  put 
the  income  of  that  company  into  the  hands 
of  the  bondholders.  I  ask  a  careful  reading 
of  these  letters:  W.  A.  SMITH, 


THE  GREAT  CONSOLIDATION  SCHEME. 
Its  Enemies  Unmasked.  ■ 


Princeton,  N.  C,  January  2,  1874. 
if.  J.  Fagg,  Esq.,  Asheville.  N.  Q.: 

Dear  Sir  :  Your  favor  of  the  25th  De- 
cember, asking  my  views  in  regard  to  the 
Consolidation  bill,  passed  by  the  present 
Legislature,  came  to  hand  to  day,  and  in 
reply  I  must  say  that'in  my  opinion  the  Con- 
solidation bill,  so  called,  does  not  amount 
to  anything,  and  that  those  who  were  in- 
strumental in  changing  it  from  what  it  was 
when  originally  offered  did  the  West  a  great 
wrong  and  injury.  The  bill  was  maturely 
considered  and  well  digested  by  the  State 
Commission  and  the  Directors  of  the  N.  C. 
R.  R.  Co.,  who  had  ability  and  patriotism 
equal  to  the  Legislature.  Judge  Manly, 
Col.   Humphrey,  Col.   Gaither,   Gen.  Bar- 


ringer  and  Mr.  Wilson,  of  Charlotte,  to- 
gether with  other  gentlemen  of  high  stand- 
ing and  character  as  lawyers,  and  eminent 
as  statesmen  and  patriots,  matured  the  bill 
as  it  was  originally  offered.  If  that  bill 
had  passed,  the  N.  C.  R.  R.  Co.  could 
have  easily  overcome  all  other  difficulties, 
and  finished  the  road  not  only  to  Paint  Rock, 
but  to  other  Western  termini.  While  your 
members  from  the  West  were  for  the  bill,  it 
only  received  a  sort  of  quasi  support  from 
them.  Your  whole  delegation  being  candi- 
dates for  Congress,  they  were  too  tender 
footed  for  the  fight  for  your  rights,  which, 
in  my  opinion,  was  fatal  to  the  bill.  You 
did  not  have  a  man  from  the  West — Repub- 
lican or  Democrat — who  had  grit  enough  to 


i 


fight  Col.  Bennett,  but  sat  cringing  under 
his  whip,  and  allowed  him  to  destroy  the 
bill ;  or,  if  they  had  the  grit,  they  were 
sadly  ignorant  of  the  effects  of  the  amend- 
ments, which  makes  them  as  culpable  (if 
not  more  so)  as  if  they  had  opposed  the  bill 
openly.  In  the  first  place,  no  one  will  buy 
a  single  bond  so  long  as  the  clause  remains 
which  forbids  the  sale  of  the  road  on  a  fail- 
ure to  pay  interest.  Who  would  buy  a  bond, 
when  he  might  have  to  wait  twenty  years 
for  his  interest?  This  is  one  of  the  fatal 
amendments,  and  shows  how  very  ignorant 
the  Legislature  was,  or  how  deeply  the  plans 
had  been  laid  to  defeat  the  building  of  the 
road. 

Secondly.  Mr.  Flemming  offered  an 
amendment,  that  the  gauge  should  not  be 
changed  until  the  road  was  finished  to  Paint 
Rock,  when  the  very  essence  of  the  bill, 
after  arranging  the  bonds  all  right,  was  the 
gauge.  If  the  N.  C.  Railroad  Co.  could 
have  had  this  power  granted,  we  could,  in 
thirty  days  from  the  passage  of  the  bill,  have 
been  running  from  Old  Fort  to  Goldsboro, 
making  money  to  back  our  bonds  up  in  the 
market,  while  we  could  have  been  receiv- 
ing at  least  two  hundred  thousand  dollars 
per  annum  for  the  lease  of  the  N.  C.  road 
from  Charlotte  to  Greensboro.  This  would 
have  paid  at  least  four  per  cent,  on  the  pri- 
vate stock  and  upon  the  construction  bonds, 
which  would  have  satisfied  the  parties  who 
hold  these  securities,  and  all  injunctions 
and  suits  would  have  ceased,  and  the  Direc- 
tors of  the  N.  C.  Railroad  Co.  could  have 
gone  to  work,  at  the  great  enterprise  before 
them,  with  an  earnestness  and  zeal  which 
would  overcome  all  difficulties. 

Thirdly.  In  their  great  zeal  to  kill  the 
bill,  they  limit  the  amount  of  bonds  to  be 
issued  to  three  and  a  half  millions,  after  say- 
ing that  the  private  stockholders  should  re- 
ceive one-half  million  dollars  for  their  stock 
out  of  the  first  money  received  from  a  sale 
of  the  bonds.  Four  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars of  the  bonds  was  necessary  in  any 
event,  to  be  placed  in  our  trustee's  hands, 
to  meet  the  present  mortgage  upon  the  N, 
C.  Railroad,  before  we  could  sell  a  single 
bond  to  be  issued.  That,  added  to  the 
amount  to  be  paid  for  the  stock,  would  take 
at  least  one  million.  Then  we  are  to  pay 
eight  hundred  thousand  for  the  Western  N. 
C.  Railroad,  in  cash,  which  will  almost  con- 
sume another  million.  This  makes  two 
million  already  gone,  and  three  million,  or 
nearly  so,  of  construction  bonds  staring  you 
in  the  face. 

You  will  see  from  the  facts  and  figures 
that  the  present  bill  is  a  contemptible  farce 
— a  most  perfect  failure  !  But,  on  the  con- 
trary, if  the  bill  had  been  passed  in  its 
original  form,  with  power  to  change  the 
gauge,  &c,  we  could  have  (with  the  bonds 


limited  to  three  and  a  half  millions)  finished 
the  road  to  Paint  Rock,  and  had  money 
left. 

Why?  Because  I  could  have  compro- 
mised with  the  construction  bondholders 
and  private  stockholders,  and  satisfied  them 
that  their  interest  was  in  remaining  in  the 
position  of  stockholders.  In  fact  I  had 
already  been  promised  by  many  of  the  large 
stockholders  that  they  would  remain  in  the 
old  company,  as  they  thought,  as  I  did,  that 
their  stock  would  be  greatly  enhanced  by 
buying  and  building  the  roads  spoken  of  in 
the  bill.  The  construction  bondholders, 
although  not  as  directly  interested  as  the 
private  stockholders,  were  willing,  and  are 
still  willing,  as  far  as  I  am  informed,  and  I 
have  talked  with  numbers  of  them,  to  re- 
main quiet,  at  least,  if  not  to  give  their  aid 
to  the  great  work.  All  the  private  stock- 
holder, or  the  construction  bondholder 
desires,  is  to  be  assured  that  his  stock  or 
bonds  will  not  be  impaired  by  carrying  out 
our  scheme.  I  know  if  we  had  got  a  liberal 
charter,  and  the  management  of  the  road 
had  been  left  to  its  present  directors,  that 
the  private  stockholders  and  the  construc- 
tion bondholders  would  have  had  perfect 
confidence,  and  the  work  would  have  gone 
on  successfully. 

Another  seriously  objectionable  amend- 
ment was  in  limiting  the  bonds  to 
be  sold  at  not  less  than  seventy- 
five  cents  in  the  dollar.  This  has  the  effect 
of  fixing  the  price  at  that  rate,  when  we, 
without  this  amendment,  could  have  readily 
sold  every  bond  at  ninety  cents  in  the 
dollar,  as  they  would  have  been  equally  as 
well  secured  as  any  bond  in  America.  Why 
they  should  limit  the  price  of  the  bonds  to  a 
price  below  which  they  should  not  be  sold, 
when  they  had  such  an  honest  committee  to 
sell  them,  is  astonishing  to  me.  I  was  will- 
ing to  leave  the  price  with  the  committee, 
because  I  am  well  satisfied  that  Governor 
Graham,  Judge  Manly  and  Mr.  Armfield 
are  far  too  honest,  men  of  too  great  busi- 
ness qualifications,  and  who  have  the  interest 
of  the  State  and  the  welfare  of  her  citizens 
too  much  at  heart,  ever  to  have  taken  sev- 
enty-five cents  in  the  dollar  for  such  bonds 
as  the  original  bill  contemplated  making. 
And  I  well  know  they  could  not  get  that 
amount  for  such  bonds  as  the  bill  passed 
will  make.  In  mj-  opinion  thejr  could  not 
sell  them  at  all.  Some  object  to  having  a 
committee  to  sell  the  bonds — I  have  none. 
Indeed  I  prefer  that  the  committee  should 
remain  as  it  is,  as  it  may  be  of  service  in 
giving  confidence  in  some  way,  but  in  what 
way  I  confess  I  am  at  a  loss  to  see.  But 
I  am  willing  to  be  connected  with,  or  gov- 
erned by,  any  one  who  is  a  true  friend  to 
the  enterprise,  and  who  will  help  me  push 
it  through  in  the  most  speedy  and  successful 


manner.  There  is  also  a  small  party,  (I 
am  in  hopes  a  very  small  party,)  and  as  far 
as  I  know  a  party  of  very  small  influence, 
which  proposes  and  advocates  the  exchange 
of  State  stock  in  the  N.  C.  Railroad  Co. 
for  the  construction  bonds.  If  this  is  clone 
your  roads  will  never  he  built  another  mile. 
Why?  Because  these  bonds  would  be 
bought  up  by  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
Co.,  or  some  other  railroad  company ; 
and  even  if  they  paid  par  for  them  it  would 
be  better  for  them,  and  they  would  prefer 
to  do  so  than  to  pay  what  they  at  present 
do  for  the  lease  of  the  N.  C.  Railroad. 
Why  ?  Because,  in  that  way,  the  N.  C.  Rail- 
road would  only  cost  them  two  million  and 
one  hundred  dollars.  That  at  eight  per 
cent,  would  only  be  one  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  dollars  annually,  while  at  present 
they  pay  as  rent  two  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  dollars  per  annum.  You  see  they 
would  get  the  road  in  fee  simple,  and  for- 
ever, for  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  a 
year  less  than  it  now  costs  them.  But  sup- 
pose they  can  buy  these  construction  bonds 
at  fifty  cents  in  the  dollar,  (and  I  see  from 
a  communication  from  a  very  learned  man 
from  your  section — Judge  Merrimon — that 
they  can  be  bought  for  thirty  cents  in  the 
dollar,)  it  would  cost  them  two  hundred 
thousand  less  per  annum  than  they  pay  for 
the  lease  of  the  road.  And  it  would  also 
destroy  the  interest  of  the  private  stock- 
holders in  the  N.  C.  R,  R.  Co.,  so  that  the 
stock  in  it  would  be  worthless.  You  may 
ask,  Is  this  possible  1  and  yet  our  able  man 
advocates  it!  Yes,  sir;  it  is  not  only  pos- 
sible, but  it  will  certainly  be  done  if  the  State 
stock  is  ever  exchanged  for  the  construction 
bonds.  Any  corporation  or  individual  who 
could  get  a  majority  of  the  bonds  could 
get  a  majority  of  the  stock.  Any  one  own- 
ing the  majority  of  stock,  which  would  be 
only  two  million  and  one  hundred  dollars 
worth,  would  control  the  road.     They,  of 


course,  would  run  it  to  advance  their  own 
interest,  and  instead  of  declaring  dividends, 
they  would  put  their  surplus  money  made 
upon  the  road,  back  upon  it  again,"  in  the 
way  of  equipments,  &c,  and  not  declare 
dividends  until  the  minority  stockholders 
would  be  tired  and  worn  out  with  suspense, 
and  sell  their  stock  at  a  nominal  value.  And 
thus  the  whole  road  would  belong  to  those 
who  obtained  the  construction  bonds  and 
exchanged  them  for  the  State's  stock  in  the 
N.  C.  R.  R,  Co.  So  that  any  intelligent 
man,  with  any  familiarity  at  all  with  this 
matter,  can  see  at  a  glance  that  to  exchange 
the  State  stock  in  the  N.  C.  R.  R.  Co.,  would 
defeat  any  road  from  ever  being  built  through 
the  Western  part  of  the  State  by  the  N.  C. 
R.  R.  Co.  Some  very  great  men  (especially 
in  their  own  estimation)  have  but  very  lit- 
tle practical  common  sense,  and  it  would  be 
much  better  for  the  interest  of  the  State  for 
these  great  men  to  show  their  greatness  by 
applying  themselves,  with  their  great  learn- 
ing and  acknowledged  ability,  to  things 
pertaining  to  nations,  than  thus  to  con- 
tinue to  damage  the  best  interest  of  their 
State  by  meddling  with  local  and  practical 
things  and  measures,  which  they,  in  their 
ambition  for  greatness,  have  either  for- 
gotten or  never  condescended  to  learn. 

I  am  satisfied,  however,  that  the  majority 
of  the  Legislature  has  too  much  patriotism 
and  love  for  the  dear  people  not  to  pass  a 
supplementary  act  to  answer  every  purpose 
when  it  meets  again. 

I  have  answered  such  points  as  I  thought 
most  important  to  the  bill,  but  much  more 
could  be  said  upon  the  subject  to  show  that 
the  opponents  of  the  measure  are  opponents 
of  the  progress  and  advancement  of  the  best 
interest  of  North  Carolina. 
Yours,  truly, 

W.  A.  Smith, 
President  N.  C.  Railroad  Co. 


REPLY  TO  "FAIR  PLAY"    AND  OTHERS. 
Turner  and  his  Empty    Jugs. 


Washington,  D.  C,  Jan.  23, 1874. 
Editor  "Neivs,"  Raleigh,  N.  C:  * 

Sir:  In  my  note  of  the  18th  instant,  in 
reply  to  "  Fair  Play,"  of  the  17th,  I  inti- 
mated that  I  would  answer  his  communica- 
tion if  he  would  furnish  me  with  his  name. 
Having  waited  a  sufhcieut  time,  I  am  ad- 
vised by  friends  to  reply  to  his  billingsgate, 
even  if  it  should  appear  to  gentlemen  as  a 
condescension  on  my  part  to  do  so,  lest 
some  verdant  member  of  the  Legislature 
might  think  his  twaddle  true  and  calcu- 


lated to  injure  the  great  consolidation 
scheme  and  cut  off  the  West  forever  from 
the  advantages  of  a  railroad.  To  reply  fully 
to  "Fair  Play"  it  is  necessar3r  to  give  a 
short  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  North 
Carolina  Railroad  Company  from  the  time 
I  took  its  affairs  in  charge  to  the  present 
time. 

I  was  elected  president  of  the  company 
in  July,  1868,  succeeding  Jo.  Turner,  of 
Hillsboro',  N.  C.  I  found  the  road  in  a 
deplorable  condition  in  every  respect.     It 


had  great  need  of  iron  on  the  track,  had  no 
credit,  no  system ;  was  running  along  with- 
out a  head,  broken  down,  almost  insolvent, 
crushed  by  a  debt  of  nearly  a  million  dol- 
lars, with  less  than  twenty  thousand  in  the 
treasury.  I  found  in  the  office  when  I  took 
charge  an  old  pine  table,  a  sort  of  cupboard 
containing  one  empty  jug  and  several  empty 
bottles,  an  old  bedstead  and  mattress,  full 
of  chinches,  and  covered  with  old  dirty 
sheets.  All  was  dirt  and  confusion.  A 
majority  of  the  officers  and  employees  were 
drunkards  and  unreliable  men. 

No  sooner  had  I  taken  charge  of  the 
affairs  of  the  company,  than  a  great  hue  and 
cry  was  raised  by  the  vagabond  Turner 
that  the  N.  C.  R.  R.  would  be  run  down 
and  destroyed.  The  spirit  of  blackguard- 
ism was  invoked  and  its  filthy  missiles 
hurled  at  me,  and  every  conceivable  lie 
that  could  be  invented  was  put  in  circula- 
tion by  that  unscrupulous,  low-down  fellow, 
sustained,  more  or  less,  by  the  Democratic 
party. 

In  the  course  of  time,  however,  intelli- 
gent gentlemen  discovered  that  the  road 
was  improving,  and  that  at  least  eighty 
thousand  dollars  was  saved,  the  first  year, 
over  Turner's  administration.  Dividends 
were  soon  declared  and  the  debt  reduced. 
When  this  exhibit  was  made  the  Charlotte 
Democrat  complimented  me  on  my  man- 
agement, and  asked  that  I  should  have  fair 
play.  After  the  first  year  of  my  adminis- 
tration I  received  the  unanimous  vote  of 
both  parties  for  president,  no  one  objecting 
to  my  re-election  except  Jo.  Turner  and  the 
Hillsboro'  clique. 

And  now  let  us  see  for  a  moment  what 
Turner  and  his  board  of  directors  did. 
They  mortgaged  the  road  for  one  million 
and  a  half  of  dollars,  and  issued  bonds  to 
the  amount  of  eight  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, when  there  was  no  necessity  for  mort- 
gaging it  at  all.  Why,  then,  mortgage  the 
road?  It  was  for  the  purpose  of  "grab- 
bing" two  hundred  and  forty  thousand 
dollars  of  its  bonds.  As  soon  as  the  mort- 
gage was  registered  this  same  honest  Jo. 
Turner  (the  great  enemy  of  rings  and 
thieves)  and  his  board  declared  a  dividend 
of  six  per  cent,  on  the  stock,  payable  in 
the  bonds  they  had  just  put  upon  the  road  ! 
Was  this  honest?    I  think  not, 

This  broken-down  vagabond  demagogue, 
Turner,  continued  to  lie  and  make  charges 
against  me,  whilst  the  private  stockholders, 
a  large  majority  of  whom  were  Democrats, 
continued  to  vote  for  me. 

At  length  the  Democrats  got  possession 
of  the  Legislature,  and  then  that  devil, 
Turner,  commenced  on  them  to  disregard 
the  law,  the  charter  of  the  company,  and 
the  constitution  of  the  State,  and  make  him 
president.      The  private  stockholders  be- 


came alarmed  and  authorized  me  to  defeat 
his  nefarious  plans,  if  possible,  as  they 
knew  that  if  this  fellow,  Turner,  got  pos- 
session of  the  road  again,  with  his  drunken 
brigade,  all  dividends  would  cease  and  their 
stock  would  become  almost  entirely  worth- 
less, as  it  was  when  I  was  first  elected  pres- 
ident, A  fear  that  this  man,  Turner,  would, 
through  his  Legislature,  again  get  posses- 
sion of  the  road,  was  a  chief  impelling  mo- 
tive in  the  stockholders  leasing  it  out.  The 
road  was  leased  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
stockholders,  according  to  law,  and  the 
courts  will  sustain  it, 

"Fair  Play,"  in  his  cowardly  attack,  in- 
sinuates that  I  have  acted  dishonestly  to  the 
North  Carolina  Railroad  Company.  *  I  have 
vouchers  for  every  cent  that  the  road  has 
made  since  July,  1868.  My  vouchers  have 
been  regularly  examined  by  the  finance 
committee,  composed  of  both  parties.  They 
have  always  reported  that  every  cent  re- 
ceived by  me  was  correctly  accounted  tor. 
During  the  time  I  have  been  president 
more  than  three  millions  of  dollars  (I  have 
not  the  exact  figures  by  me)  have  been  re- 
ceived and  paid  out,,  and  I  have  vouchers 
for  every  cent.     Can  Turner  say  as  much  ? 

I  was  appointed  receiver  of  the  Western 
N.  C.  R.  R.  last  spring.  That  road  was  run 
down,  and  never  had  to  my  knowledge 
paid  expenses.  In  less  than  six  months  I 
had  greatly  improved  theroad,  and  on  the 
31st  of  December  last  had  twenty-eight 
thousand  dollars  over  expenses;  and  I  be- 
lieve I  can,  if  I  had  the  opportunity,  make 
that  road  pay  six  percent,  interest  upon  the 
debt  required  to  buy  it,  even  if  it  be  not 
finished. 

"Fair  Play','  when  he  says  he  is  in  favor 
of  the  North  Carolina  Railroad  Company 
building  the  W.  N.  C.  roadies.  He  knows  he 
is  a  bought-up  man — that  he  belongs,  body 
and  soul,  to  Mahone  &  Co.  His  cry  of 
"stop  thief"  will  not  divert  the  honest,  ne- 
glected people  of  the  West  from  his  devilish 
designs.  If"  you,  Mr.  "Fair  Play, "  had  not 
been  a  coward,  you  would  not  have  written 
over  an  assumed  name — you  would  have 
come  out  squarely,  like  a  man.  But  you 
wrote  to  deceive — you  wrote  to  humbug 
verdant  and  ignorant  Democrats,  for  you 
know  you  cannot  deceive  Republicans,  in 
the  Legislature  or  out  of  it.  The  Repub- 
lican party  of  the  State  is  for  building  the 
Western  N.  C.  road.  The  Democrats  of 
the  eastern  and  middle  counties  are  against 
it,  They  know  that  if  the  Legislature 
will  let  me  I  will  finish  the  great  work. 
But  they  don't  want  me  to  finish  it,  be- 
lieving, as  they  say,  it  will  make  me  Gov- 
ernor, &c.  I  would  not  be  Governor ;  but  if  I 
wanted  to  be,  I  could  beat  any  man  you 
have,  Mr.  "Fair  Play,"  without  building 
the  W.  N.  C.  R.  R.      I  am  not  so  poor  or 


so  ambitious  as  to  desire  to  be  Governor. 
North  Carolina  has  been  striving  for  the 
last  thirty  years  to  get  a  railroad  connection 
with  the"Western  States.  That  her  efforts 
have  failed  up  to  this  time  has  been  in  a  great 
decree  owing  to  the  misconduct  of  some  of 
her  own  people.  It  looks  as  if  there  were 
men  in  our  State  who  were  determined  that 
we  should  always  be  kept  in  the  rear  of  Vir- 
ginia. Last  winter  a  Virginia  paper,  pub- 
lished in  Richmond,  made  a  grand  boast 
that  Gen.  Mahone  had  so  managed  matters 
at  Raleigh  that  he  prevented  the  Western 
North  Carolina  road  ever  being  built,  or  at 
least  delayed  it  for  a  long  period  of  years. 
Is  he  to  be  allowed  to  play  the  same 
game  again?  I  have  been  informed  that  one 
of  his  associates  said  last  winter  that  he  had 
better  pay  five  millions  of  dollars  than  let 
our  North  Carolina  road  be  built.  The  in- 
dividual who  sometimes  calls  himself  Apple- 
ton  Oaksmith,  and  sometimes  passes  by 
other  names,  who  was  his  great  manipulator 
at  Raleigh  last  year,  has  lately  been  in  New 
York  for  some  days,  while  Mahone  was 
there.  From  there  he  went  down  to  Ra- 
leigh. Perhaps  he  is  Mr.  "Fair  Play, "  or 
perhaps  "Fair  Play"  is  only  one  of  his 
strikers.  How  much  does  he  get  for  his 
share  in  fooling  the  Legislature  ?  If  the 
members,  after  all  that  has  passed,  continue 
to  act  against  their  State,  and  in  the  interest 
of  Mahone's  Virginia  road,  the  people  will 
not  let  them  off  so  easily  as  they  have  here- 
tofore done.  "Fair  Play"  attacks  me  for 
refusing  free  passes  to  the  members  of  the 
Legislature  for  going  over  the  railroads. 
These  members  compel  the  State  Treasurer 
to  pay  them  twenty  cents  per  mile  for  going 
to  Raleigh,  and  yet  they  complain  of  being 
charged  by  the  railroad  less  than  five  cents 
per  mile.  They  and  their  good  friend  "Fair 
Play,"  or  Oaksmith,  or  whatever  name  he 
may   go   by,  insist   upon    going  to  Raleigh 


without  paying  anything.  Then  what  right 
have  they,  by  false  pretences,  to  make  the 
treasurer  pay  them  twenty  cents  per  mile 
out  of  the  money  of  the  heavily -taxed  peo- 
ple? Is  not  this  worse  than  the  "salary 
grab"  of  the  last  Congress,  about  which  they 
have  raised  a  great  outcry  ?  They  can  travel 
to  Raleigh  for  less  money  now  than  their 
predecessors  did,  who  in  old  times  received 
only  ten  cents  per  mile  and  paid  their  own 
fare  without  complaining.  And  yet,  ac- 
cording to  "Fair  Play,"  the  present  mem- 
bers, who  get  twice  as  much,  must  go  free  ! 
Verily  they  may  be  called  "Solomons," and 
when  they  and  their  friends  go,  "wisdom 
will  die  with  them . ' ' 

I  have  reason  to  believe  that  those  who 
are  acting  against  the  interests  of  the  State, 
fearing  that  the  pressure  of  the  people  will 
drive  the  Legislature  up  to  do  something, 
have  changed  their  tactics.  They  are  said 
to  be  about  making  a  combination  with  the 
construction  bondholders,  with  a  view  of 
getting,  through  the  action  of  the  United 
States  courts,  the  control  of  the  road.  If 
they  succeed  in  this,  they  may  then  sell  it 
out  to  the  highest  bidder,  and  if  Mahone 
should  be  the  man,  he  will,  of  course,  be 
smart  enough,  when  he  owns  the  road,  to 
prevent  its  ever  being  finished.  His  five 
millions  will  then  have  been  well  spent,  and 
his  friends  can  then  give  him  a  grand  ova- 
tion. But  what  will  the  people  of  North 
Carolina  do  with  the  men  who  have  been 
his  tools  or  his  dupes  ? 

"Fair  Play"  says  I  wish  to  be  elected 
Governor  in  1876.  Was  there  ever  anything 
more  stupid  than  his  declaration  that*  I  will 
not  build  the  road?  What  chance  would  I 
have  to  be  elected  if  I  were  to  fail  ?  But  if 
I  get  the  power  I  intend  to  finish  the  road 
whether  it  elects  me  Governor  or  President, 
or  leaves  me  a  private  citizen. 

Respectfully,  War.  A.  Smith. 


MAJ.  SMITH'S  EPISTLE  TO  THE  "SOLOMONS.'.' 


To  the  Members  of  the  General  Assembly: 

Sirs:  I  propose  to  address  to  you  a  few 
plain  parting  words  ere  you  sink  into  mer- 
ited oblivion.  Mercy  prompts  me  to  silence 
as  you  slink  from  the  public  gaze,  but  a 
sense  of  duty  impels  me  to  poiut  to  you,  or 
hold  you  up  in  your  true  colors,  that  those 
who  are  to  come  after  you  may  learn  a 
lesson  and  shun  the  disgrace  you  have 
brought  upon  yourselves. 

My  remarks  shall  be  confined  to  such  of 
you  as  are  responsible  for  this  expose  by 
reason  of  your  gross  attacks  upon  me,  per- 
sonally, without  regard  to  color  or  previous 
condition  of  party  servitude.     I  need  not 


say  I  have  the  highest  regard  for  many 
members  of  your  body.  There  are  good, 
clever  gentlemen  among  you — Cunning- 
ham, Welch,  Humphrey  and  others,  I  could 
name — but  they  are  powerless  in  a  mob  of 
mere  numerical  strength. 

Right-thinking  men  regard  you  as  an  im- 
becile, graceless  set.  The  annals  of  the 
State  will  be  searched  in  vain  to  find  your 
like  as  a  legislative  body.  The  famous 
"  terrapin  Legislature, "  in  comparison  with 
you,  becomes  a  respectable,  dignified  con- 
cern. You  are  unique  in  your  littleness 
and  meanness — you  stink  in  the  public  nos- 
tril.      Language   is   inadequate   to   picture 


6 


you.  You  will  be  remembered  in  years  to 
come  as  profligate  economists,  destructive 
reformers,  mock  statesmen,  blind  or  corrupt 
judges,  hypocritical  patriots,  faithless  ser- 
vants— the  North  Carolina  "  Barebones 
Parliament. ' ' 

You  went  into  power  on  a  platform  of 
economy,  and  you  have  run  riot  in  squan- 
dering the  people's  money. 

During  your  term  of  office  you  have 
raised  no  monument  to  the  honor  or  profit 
of  the  State;  but,  on  the  contrary,  have 
torn  down  and  laid  waste,  and  you  can 
point  only,  as  the  results  of  your  labors,  to 
such  deeds  as  the  establishment  of  cross- 
roads grogshops  and  the  incorporation  of 
petty  towns  and  singing-schools. 

Your  statesmanship  has  been  of  the  Peter 
Funk  order — 3'ou  promised  to  enact  bene- 
ficial public  laws  and  you  have  deceived 
the  people. 

You  have  undertaken,  in  the  littleness 
and  bitterness  of  your  souls,  to  destroy  my 
private  character  and  to  break  me  down  in 
the  estimation  of  the  people,  because  you 
are  afraid  of  me,  and  you  condemn  me 
without  a  trial  and  without  evidence. 

Your  patriotism  is  a  hollow  pretext,  and 
you  have  shown  it  to  be  purchasable  with 
a  dead-head  ticket  on  a  railroad. 

You  have,  in  everything '  that  concerned 
tliem,  deceived  the  people. 

You  are  a  scurvy  set — a  veritable  "Bare- 
bones"  Legislature. 

I  have  said  you  attempted  to  destroy  my 
character  and  break  me  down,  and  in  doing 
this  you  have  shown  yourselves  to  be  blind 
or  corrupt  judges.  You  were  blind  in  sup- 
posing you  could  break  down  any  man  of 
even  ordinary  character.  The  voice  of  the 
people,  as  they  flocked  around  me  on  the 
occasion  of  my  recent  visit  to  my  home, 
where  I  am  best  known,  and  at  the  depots 
along  the  line  from  Goldsboro'  to  Greens- 
boro', the  young  and  the  old,  the  Demo- 
crat as  well  as  the  Republican,  and  aged 
ministers  of  the  gospel,  attested  your  blind- 
ness, as  they  appealed  to  me  to  become 
their  next  Governor;  or,  if  I  would  not,  to 
do  something  by  means  of  which  you  could 
be  driven  from  the  capitol  into  your  obscure 
holes.  Or  you  were  corrupt  in  condemning 
me  without  a  hearing  and  without  a  witness, 
refusing  me  a  right  conceded  to  the  mean- 
est criminal.  You  took  an  oath,  on  assum- 
ing the  position  you  have  disgraced,  to  sup- 
port the  constitution  of  the  State,  and  in 
doing  your  best  to  ban  me,  to  disable  me 
of  a  right  guaranteed  by  that  constitution, 
you  foreswore  yourselves,  and  are  there- 
fore, as  I  am  advised,  perjured  men.  Your 
predecessors  caused  Jo.  Turner  to  be  tried 
and  convicted  by  one  of  their  committees, 
for  defrauding  the  State  of  over  three  thou- 
sand dollars,  in  overcharging  for  the  public 


printing.  Now  you  attempt  to  force  him 
into  public  confidence  by  re-electing  him 
public  printer.  This  act  you  did  with  all 
the  facts  before  your  eyes,  and  you  thus 
constituted  yourselves  accessories  after  the 
fact.  In  your  blindness  or  corruption  you 
seem  to  have  forgotten  that  the  people  re- 
member these  things. 

You  attempted  to  ban  me  for  the  alleged 
reason  that  I  refused  to  answer  certain  ques- 
tions put  to  me  by  Fat  John  Graham  on 
committee,  and  you  did  that  knowing,  as 
you  must  have  known,  that  the  allegation 
was  false.  You  knew  that  in  1871  the 
directors  of  the  North  Carolina  railroad 
leased  that  work  to  the  Richmond  and  Dan- 
ville Railroad  Company.  As  president  of 
the  road  you  knew  I  had  no  vote  on  any 
question  before  th«  board  except  in  the  case 
of  a  tie.  You  knew  that  every  director 
present,  four  of  whom  were  Democrats,  the 
remainder  Republicans,  voted  for  the  lease. 
You  knew  that  in  this  I  had  no  vote  ;  yet 
I  was  charged  by  Buttermilk  Jo  with  doing 
the  whole  thing,  and  that  bribery  and  cor- 
ruption were  in  it.  You  knew  that  at  the 
first  annual  meeting  after  the  road  was 
leased  the  stockholders,  nearly  all  Demo- 
crats, voted  to  confirm  the  lease,  few  ob- 
jecting, save  Jo  Turner  and  Tom  Webb, 
who  each  desired  again  to  become  president 
and  run  down  the  road  and  waste  its  income 
upon  himself,  You  knew  that  at  that 
meeting  the  foul  Turner-charges  were 
brought  up  by  Tom  Webb,  and  that  I  there 
and  then  denounced  Webb,  or  any  one  else 
that  repeated  them,  as  a  liar  and  coward. 
You  knew  that  I  there  asked  for  a  committee 
to  investigate  these  charges,  Webb  to  be  made 
its  chairman,  and  the  convention  refused  to 
appoint  that  committee.  You  knew  that  I 
then  called  upon  the  President  of  the  Rich- 
mond and  Danville  Company,  who  leased 
the  road,  to  state  to  that  convention  whether 
his  company  had  paid  or  offered  to  pay,  or 
had  promised  at  any  future  time  to  pay  me 
anything  for  the  part  I  took  in  leasing  the 
North  Carolina  road  to  his  company.  In 
answer,  you  knew  that  Col.  Buford  said  his 
company  had  not  paid,  or  promised  to  pay, 
any  officer  or  employee  of  the  North  Caro- 
lina Railroad  Company  one  cent  to  consum- 
mate the  lease.  All  this  you  knew,  and  yet 
you  attempted  to  ban  me  and  to  disable  me 
from  holding  a  public  office  because,  as  you  j 
allege,  I  had  refused  to  answer  certain  ques-  j 
tlons  touching  this  very  matter,  propounded  - 
to  me  by  Fat  John  Graham  on  committee. 

I  was  called  before  that  committee,  of 
which  Graham  and  Dr.  Worth  were  mem- 
bers. I  refused  to  answer  their  questions, 
as  you  knew,  because  I  did  not  recognize 
their  right  to  investigate  the  personal  affairs 
of  any  man,  and  not,  as  you  knew,  because  i 
of  the  character  of  the  questions  asked.    If 


the  committee  had  authority  to  question  me, 
they  had  the  power  to  make  me  answer. 
But  the  fat  chairman  did  not  desire  answers, 
his  object  being  to  manufacture  capital  for 
his  campaign  for  treasurer — a  campaign 
which  enabled  the  people  of  his  own  county 
to  show  their  estimate  of  him  by  voting  him 
to  the  bottom  of  his  own  ticket. 

What  now  becomes  01  your  pretext  for 
the  dastardly  attempt  to  ban  me  ?  Was  it 
not  your  real  purpose  to  destroy  my  politi- 
cal influence  in  the  State,  and  in  a  cowardly, 
covert  manner  to  defeat  the  Western  North 
Carolina  road,  and  is  it  not  your  purpose  to 
disable  all  men  in  favor  of  that  work? 
Would  not  a  guarantee  of  deadhead  tickets 
for  life  have  changed  your  course?  But 
enough  of  this. 

I  might  single  you  out  and  attempt  indi- 
vidual portraits  of  hideousness,  for  some  of 
you  are  worse  than  others — some  bigger 
fools,  others  greater  knaves,  and  still  others 
with  strikingly  mixed  mean  characteristics, 
but  I  dislike  invidiousness. 

I  might  instance  Merrimon,  the  flea-bitten 
flee  of  Buncombe,  who  is  ever  aiming  at 
something  smart  because  he  has  a  big 
brother,  and  whose  tact,  in  making  every- 
body he  comes  in  contact  with  hate  him,  is 
about  to  consign  him  to  the  mud-hills  of 
Georgia,  and  he  leaves  his  country  for  his 
country's  good.     Alas,  poor  Georgia  ! 

Dr.  J.  M.  Worth,  the  "William  Pitt"  of 
Randolph,  might  be  selected  by  reason  pf 
his  wonderful  financial  powers.  Financial 
ability  runs  in  the  blood  of  the  Worths  as 
long  ears  in  that  of  the  ass.  But  I  could  not 
do  that  subject  justice. 

The  Moreheads  would  be  worthy  of  a 
sketch.  Of  all  the  self-styled  great  men  of 
the  Legislature  the  most  conspicuous  is  the 
little  fellow  who  goes  by  the  name  of  "More- 
head  of  Rockingham, ' '  though  ' '  Less-head' ' 
would  be  a  more  appropriate  name.  He  is 
a  small-souled,  flat-headed,  adder  kind  of  a 
fellow,  ever  striking  at  those  around  him. 
He  is  a  fractious  little  miss,  and  puts  on  airs 
and  demands  passes  over  railroads  by  reason 
of  his  being  a  director  on  a  dirt  road.  He 
is,  too,  an  avaricious  varment.  One  would 
think  he  would  be  satisfied  with  what  he 
has  already  received  from  the  public  works 
of  North  Carolina.  Col.  Whit-ford,  ex-pres- 
ident of  the  Atlantic  and  North  Carolina 
road,  can  tell  whether  the  Moreheads  are 
entitled  to  the  last  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars the}r  got  out  of  that  poverty-stricken 
work.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  but  for  the  rail- 
roads and  public  buildings  of  North  Caro- 
lina, Turner  Morehead  and  his  brother  John 
would  to-day  be  plowing  a  steer  at  eight 
dollars  per  month.  And  these  are  the  men 
who  hate  me  because  I  will  not  say  they  are 
big  men,  and  Turner,  the  spiteful  little  soul, 
votes  to  ban  me. 


'John  Morehead  was  one  of  Jo  Turner's 
directors  who  voted  the  scrip  dividend 
which  put  the  North  Carolina  road  $240,- 
000  deeper  in  debt ;  and  after  it  was  issued 
he  went  round  buying  up  the  scrip  of  small 
stockholders  at  from  sixty -five  to  seventy 
cents  in  the  dollar. 

Having  strong  affection  for  the  teat  which 
has  yielded  them  so  much  pap,  the  More- 
heads  desire  to  grab  the  North  Carolina 
road.  Therefore  Turner,*  the  senator  from 
the  Virginia  line,  offered  an  amendment  to 
the  Consolidation  Bill,  giving  the  private 
stockholders  seven  directors,  and  the  State, 
which  has  three  million  dollars  in  the  Avork, 
five.  I  suppose  he  and  John,  or  rather 
John,  himself,  had  talked  the  matter 
over  with  Mahone,  who  promised,  if  that 
amendment  could  be  slipped  in,  and  he  get 
the  whole  road  for  $250,000,  to  make  John 
president.  Is  not  this  worse  than  my  re- 
fusing to  answer  the  impertinent  questions 
of  Fat  John  ?  But  Turner  is  a  Morehead 
and  a  little-head,  and  Buttermilk  Jo  pats 
him  on  the  back,  and  says  :  "Go  it,  little 
one  ;  I'll  say  nothing  about  your  tricks,  be- 
cause you  stood  by  me  in  my  em  quad  game 
on  the  State  treasury,  by  which  I  came 
within  one  of  getting  over  three  thousand 
dollars.  I'll  stand  by  you  as  long  as  you 
stand  by  me  on  the  em  quad. ' ' 

The  smooth-faced,  Plymouth-rock-look- 
ing fellow,  McGehee,  of  Person,  would 
require  a  large-sized  picture  to  do  him  jus- 
tice. He  thinks  every  man  dishonest  who 
has  energy  enough  to  make  a  living,  and 
rise  above  him  without  friends,  schooling  or 
money,  and,  like  other  little  heads,  he 
would  blast  my  character  without  giving 
me  a  trial.  Not  content  with  undermining 
the  men  of  his  own  party  who  stand  be- 
tween him  and  a  seat  in  Congress,  he  strikes 
at  me  because  he  has  heard  that,  like  other 
great  men,  I  am  about  to  move  to  Greens- 
boro to  make  that  district  republican.  Poor 
little  Mac  !  You  can  never  elevate  yourself 
by  pulling  others  down.  But  you  hate 
brains  and  energy  and  progress,  Mac.  You 
hate  especially  every  man  who  has  sprung 
from  the  mass  of  the  people  by  his  .own 
exertions  and  become  your  superior.  Your 
donkey -looking  dignity  does  not  cover  your  ■. 
smallness.  Men  designed  by  nature  to  be 
great  are  beyond  the  reach  of  your  puny 
shafts  and  can  smile  at  the  malice  of  such  as 
you,  the  flea-bitten  chap  of  Buncombe  and 
the  Pitt  of  Randolph.  Go  on  with  your 
banning  amendments.  Such  acts  carry 
with  them  a  compliment  grateful  to  me,  but 
unobserved  by  you,  for  they  show  that  you 
are  fully  convinced  that  extraordinary 
means  are  requisite  to  put  me  down.  Do 
not  stop,  I  warn  you,  at  disabling  me  from 
being  president  of  a  mere  railroad.  Before 
you  turn  loose  the  people's  purse  and  go 


ling  els€~;  for  \v.ith  such  yelping  at  niy 
keels  I  may  be  induced  to  take  rapid  strides 
from  where  I  now  am  to  the  chair  of  State, 
thence  to  the  United  States  Senate,  perhaps 
to  the  presidency  of  the  nation.  Look  to  it, 
I  repeat.  I  am  not  to  be  trifled  with,  and 
'.  any  one  of  these  additional  steps  would 
'break  your  hearts. 

And  now,  sirs,  adjourn  sine  die  and  go 
home,  and  for  once  gratify  the  people.  I 
have  aske#  nothing,  I  want  nothing  from 
you.  Begone,  I  say,  and  may  the  Lord 
lfave  mercy  upon  you,  for  you  are  damned 
/n  the  estimation  of  the  honest  people. 

I£{he,West  want  their  road  finished  they 
must  send  .Republicans  to  the  Legislature. 
If  the  people  of  the  State  generally  desire 
their  debt  arranged  and  provided  for,  they 
must  puf  progressive  Republicans  m  power. 
.Daddy  Graham's  .party  will  'never  do  any- 


>    «; 


vthing  for  North  Carolina.  Something  must 
e  done,  and  that  quickly.  Suits  are  being 
brought  to  enforce  the  payment  of  claims 
against  the  State.  The  railroads  }pf  the 
State,  if  well  managed,  can  save  the  State  in 
time  ;  but  legislation  must  be  taken  out  of 
the  hands  of  imbeciles,  and  be  conducted 
with  brains  and  enterprise.  » 

W.  A.  Smith* 


*Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  I  learn 
it  was  sleepy-headed  Jim  Morehead  who 
introduced  this  amendment.  Well,  that  re 
minds  me  of  an  anecdote.  On  one  occa- 
sion, in  the  mountains,  a  man  was  before 
a  'squire  charged  with  larceny.  "Squire," 
he  pleaded,  "a  great  many  people  steal  on 
the  credit  of  our  family."  'And  the  credit 
of  the  family  is  damned  good  for  it,"  re- 
plied the^squire.  W.  A.  S. 

I  * 


r 

r        » 


THE  LEGISLATURE  BUSTED. 

.  *         BY  TIMOTHY  TAKBTJCKET. 

The  "Solomons"  have  all  gone  home, 
.      The  Halls  are  being  dusted; 

The  peanut  trade  is  all  broke  up, 
'„..  For  the  Legislature's  busted. 

■  V".    •  * 

They  sat  atid  sat  and  ate  their  peas, 

And  drewrfive  dollars  a  day; 

Bu'C  what  they'' did  for  the  people- g'good 

Is  what'no  one  can  say. 

They  all  love^  North  Carolina  so, 

They  swore  they  would  protect  her; 
The  only  few  .they  passed  was  this: 
^   Bill  Smith  shan't  be  a  Director. 

*  Bill  Smith  he  Galled  thffltn  "Solomons," 
Which  made  them  very  mad, 
For  they  had  no  kin  of  that  'ere  name, 
And  swore' they  never  had. 

N*w  to- their  homes  they're  all  gone, 
The  HallSfare  being  dusted,' 

The  peojje,  sing  and  clap  their  hands 
For  the  Legislature's  busted. 


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